Load balancing in telecommunications system supporting mobile IP

• US 7,158,492 B2
• Filed: 03/13/2001
• Issued: 01/02/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Haverinen, Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): PHAM, BRENDA H
• Application Number:
  US09/803,943
• Publication Number:
  US 20010021175A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,121 Days
• Field of Search: 370/216, 370217-221, 370/225, 370/227, 370/228, 370229-235, 370/310.2, 370/338, 370/328, 370/349, 370/310, 370/428, 370/395.3, 370/270, 370/331, 370/237, 370/332, 370/329, 709/105, 709/245, 455/433, 455/435.1, 455/436, 455/439, 455/442
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1012 based on compliance of requirements or conditions with available server resources
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1036 Load balancing of requests to servers for services different from user content provisioning, e.g. load balancing across domain name servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/163 In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/164 Adaptation or special uses of UDP protocol
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/167 Adaptation for transition between two IP versions, e.g. between IPv4 and IPv6 translation of Internet protocol [IP] addresses H04L61/2503
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/088 among core entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/065 involving selection of the user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/00 Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices

Abstract

A method for load balancing in a telecommunications system supporting Mobile IP, the system including at least one mobile node and at least one home agent. The home agent mainly supporting the mobility of the mobile node is defined as the primary home agent and one or more secondary home agents are added to the telecommunications system. Packets destined for the mobile node are transmitted, when needed, via one or more secondary home agents.

Claims

1. A method for balancing load in a telecommunications system supporting Mobile IP, the system including at least one primary home agent configured to support mobility of at least one mobile node and capable of intercepting and tunneling packets, the method comprising:

adding one or more secondary home agents to the telecommunications system, in addition to the at least one primary home agent;

processing, in the primary home agent, registration requests, sent from the at least one mobile node or a foreign agent serving the mobile node in a visited network;

transmitting packets destined for the at least one mobile node via the primary home agent in response to receiving an acceptable registration request from the at least one mobile node or the foreign agent;

sending a routing request to the one or more secondary home agents to transmit packets destined for the at least one mobile node;

intercepting and tunneling packets destined for the at least one mobile node by the one or more secondary home agents in response to the routing request; and

stopping packet transmission to the at least one mobile node via the primary home agent.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

updating Address Resolution Protocol and tunneling configurations of the one or more secondary home agents supporting IPv4 protocol, or neighbor discovery configurations and tunneling configurations of the one or more secondary home agents supporting IPv6 protocol, and

intercepting and tunneling the packets destined for the at least one mobile node using the updated Address Resolution Protocol and tunneling configurations or the neighbor discovery and tunneling configurations.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

collecting loading information by monitoring a number of packets transmitted by the primary home agent; and

transmitting packets destined for the at least one mobile node via the one or more secondary home agents to balance the load in response to a number of transmitted packets being transmitted by the primary home agent exceeding a predetermined threshold value.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

using the primary home agent'"'"'s Internet Protocol address as a source address of packets transmitted from the one or more secondary home agents and the mobile node'"'"'s care-of address as a destination address.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending a stop forwarding request to the one or more secondary home agents if a mobility binding to the at least one mobile node is released or a registration lifetime of the mobile node expires; and

stopping the packet transmission to the at least one mobile station via the one or more secondary home agents in response to the stop forwarding request.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending information indicating a duration of packet transmission to the one or more secondary home agents, and

stopping the packet transmission to the at least one mobile node via the secondary home agents if a duration indicated in the sent information expires.

7. A telecommunications system comprising:

at least one primary home agent configured to support mobility of one or more mobile nodes and capable of intercepting and tunneling packets; and

at least one secondary home agent, in addition to the primary home agent,

the telecommunications system being configured to transmit packets destined for the at least one mobile node via the at least one secondary home agent when needed, wherein the primary home agent is configured to process registration requests sent from the at least one mobile node or a foreign agent serving the at least one mobile node in a visited network, the primary home agent is configured to transmit packets destined for the at least one mobile node in response to receiving an acceptable registration request from the at least one mobile node or the foreign agent, the primary home agent is configured to send a routing request to the at least one secondary home agent to transmit packets destined for the at least one mobile node the at least one secondary home agent is configured to intercept and tunnel packets destined for the at least one mobile node in response to the routing request, and the primary home agent is configured to stop packet transmission to the at least one mobile node.

8. The telecommunications system of claim 7, wherein the at least one secondary home agent supports IPv4 protocol and is configured to update its Address Resolution Protocol and tunneling configurations, or the at least one secondary home agent supports IPv6 protocol and is configured to update its neighbor discovery configurations and tunneling configurations in response to the routing request, and at least one secondary home agent is arranged to intercept and tunnel the packets destined for the at least one mobile node using the updated Address Resolution Protocol and tunneling configurations or the neighbor discovery and tunneling configurations.

9. The telecommunications system of claim 7, wherein the primary home agent is configured to collect loading information by monitoring number of packets it transmitted, and the telecommunications system is configured to balance a load by transmitting the packets destined for the at least one mobile node via at least one secondary home agent in response to the number of transmitted packets transmitted by the primary home agent exceeding a predetermined threshold value.

10. The telecommunications system of claim 7, wherein the primary home agent is configured to send a stop forwarding request to the at least one secondary home agent if a mobility binding with the at least one mobile node is released or a registration lifetime of the mobile node expires, and the at least one secondary home agent is configured to stop the packet transmission to the at least one mobile node in response to the stop forwarding request.

11. A telecommunications device comprising at least one primary home agent configured to support mobility of one or more mobile nodes and capable of intercepting and tunnelling packets;

wherein the primary home agent is configured to process registration requests sent from the at least one mobile node or a foreign agent serving the at least one mobile node in a visited network, the primary home agent is configured to transmit packets destined for the at least one mobile node in response to receiving an acceptable registration request from the at least one mobile node or the foreign agent;

the primary home agent is configured to send a routing request to the at least one secondary home agent to transmit packets destined for the at least one mobile node; and

the primary home agent is configured to stop packet transmission to the at least one mobile node.

12. The telecommunications device according to claim 11, wherein the primary home agent is configured to collect loading information by monitoring number of packets it transmitted, and the primary home agent is configured to delegate transmission of the packets destined for the at least one mobile node via the at least one secondary home agent in response to the number of transmitted packets transmitted by the primary home agent exceeding a predetermined threshold value.

13. The telecommunications device according to claim 11, wherein the primary home agent is configured to send a stop forwarding request to the at least one secondary home agent if a mobility binding with the at least one mobile node is released or a registration lifetime of the mobile node expires.

14. A telecommunications device comprising at least one secondary home agent configured to transmit packets destined for at least one mobile node when needed, wherein the secondary home agent is configured to receive a routing request from a primary home agent capable of intercepting and tunneling packets to transmit packets destined for the at least one mobile node in response to receiving an acceptable registration request from the at least one mobile node or a foreign agent serving the at least one mobile node in the visited network, and

the secondary home agent is configured to intercept and tunnel packets destined for the at least one mobile node in response to the routing request;

wherein the secondary home agent supports IPv4 protocol and is configured to update its Address Resolution Protocol and tunneling configurations, or the at least one secondary home agent supports IPv6 protocol and is configured to update its neighbor discovery configurations and tunneling configurations in response to the routing request, and at least one secondary home agent is arranged to intercept and tunnel the packets destined for the at least one mobile node using the updated Address Resolution Protocol and tunneling configurations or the neighbor discovery and tunneling configurations.

15. The telecommunications device according to claim 14, wherein the secondary home agent is configured to use the primary home agent'"'"'s Internet Protocol address as a source address of packets transmitted from the secondary home agent and the mobile node'"'"'s care-of address as a destination address.